Spring actuated slide snap hook



April 15, 1952 B. A. ANDREWS 2,592,843

SPRING ACTUATED SLIDE SNAP HOOK Filed Nov. 22. 1948 IN V EN TOR.

BY 1/ 4 r I w ATTMNE VXG.

Patented Apr. 15, 1952 U NITED STAT ES NT OFFICE ISPRING ACTUATED SLIDESNAP .HOOK Boley A. Andrews; Kansas ..'City,itKans., assignor, by mesneassignments, to The Vendo Company, Kansas City, Mo., a corporationof--Missouri Application November 22,"1948;-SerialNo1'61 ,475

l'Claim. 1 This invention relates to garage dooropeners and particularlyof the type-wher'einthe door is movable from a closed position to anoverhead position in a substantially horizontal plane through the'medium'ofan electric motor or like prime mover having connectionwiththe door through an interconnecting rectilinearlymovable follower block.

It is the most'importantobject of this invention to provide a novelcoupling or hitch for joining an overhead'garage door with a followerblock of the above-mentioned character, said couplingincluding aninterlocking device onat least one end thereof that'maybe'easily; andquickly disconnected regardless of the-position 'of the door andirrespective of the weight that is on the coupling at the timesuchdisconnection takes place.

It'is common knowledge in the field of garage door mechanisms of thekind above set forth that oftentimes operational failures of theautomatic door controlling assembly itself necessitates-disconnecting ofthe door for manual opening and closing thereof while thecontrolmeehanismis being repaired and out of order.

Coupling means'heretofore provided between the door itself andthe-control means therefor have been so complicated that a quick andeasy disconnection is not possible. This 'problem'is enhanced when thosenot particularly skilled mechanically are faced with'the problem of-ajammed door and by' -those who do not have the physical strengthnecessary to make-such-"disconnection.

It is, accordingly, one of the most important objects of the presentinvention'to provide a coupling that includes'an'elongated link providedwith a hook on one end thereof for receiving a pin, said link, also,having'a latch member slidably mounted thereon formovement' toand'from aposition closing the mouth of the hook and thereby releasably clampingthe pin in place and interlocked with the link.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a coupling ofthe above-mentioned character having an extensible linkage provided withlatching means on both enclsthereof of identical character, to the endthat, when disconnection becomes necessary, that end of the linkage mostconveniently accessible can be manipulated with easeand dispatch.

Other objects of the present invention relate to details of constructionthat will become apparent asthe following specification;progresses,

thereof :in a released condition; and,

' Fig; 5- is a transversacross sectional viewtaken on -line-- V'Vof-Fig'. 2; looking :in' the direction 'of'the arrows.

' The garage :door opening mechanism-shown schematically iii-Fig.1ofithe drawing-forms the subject matter-of my copending applicationlNo.61,47 3, filed-November 22, 1948, "entitled Motor RActuated: DoorOperator; and, while the same forms no partof the' present invention,-the-broad :operation thereof is as follows:

'Ihe: ceiling of a garageis illustrated by the 'numeral l 0 and thefront wall of th'e garagle by the: numeral [2. Wall -l2- is' providedfwithg access opening l4 that isclosed by a door 16 that includes a.pluralityot articulated sections mounted between a p'airof u-shapedtracks,--'one of which isillu'strated in Fig,- l of the drawing J anddesignated 'by: the numerall 8. 1

A motor (not shown) #within-a housing fll-is suspended from the ceilingl0 near-one end-therelof opposite to front wall-12, said motor havingoperable. connection with afollower "rectiline'arly Lmounted within-atrack -22-depending from ceiling I 0 and extending longitudinallyofthegarage. Said T follower has: a bracket 24 secured to-the .bottomthereof by means of bolts :or the like" :passing through openingsitflofbracket24.

This bracket 24 is.more clearly illustrated in Figs, 2 "and 3 of .thedrawing Land is UJ-shaped "in: cross. section .to .Lpresent a pair ofspaced legs 28 that are interconnected-by removable cross pm 301 held in.place :by :key 32. It is apparent that thelbight of bracket 24 hasthe-bolt holes 26 formedtherein.

A- similar bracket 34 'is mounted uponthe door 16 by bolts or'thelike;36, said bracket. 34, also, .being. provided with a cross pin38..interconnecting :the' legsthereof. The coupling iorxhitch formingthe subject" matter. of this invention-and showing one end of ithecoupling with: tha latch I about to be described is designed to span thedistance between the pins 30 and 38 of brackets 28 and 34, respectively,said coupling being broadly designated by the numeral 40.

Coupling 40 includes a pair of identical, elongated links 42 and 44having their proximal ends overlapped and joined by a pair of bolts 46.The links 42 and 44 are provided with aligned, elongated slots 48 forreceiving the bolts 46; and intermeshing, transverse teeth 50 on theproximal faces of links 42 and 44 hold the same interconnected when thebolts 45 are tightened down.

It is thus far apparent that the interconnecting bar formed by links 42and 44 is extensible through loosening of bolts 46. The outermost, freeends of links 42 and 44 and the latching means for interconnecting thesame to the respective pin 38 or 38 are the same; and, therefore, suchlatching means with respect to link 42 only will be described.

The outermost free end of link 42 is provided with a hook defining anelongated notch or recess '52 extending inwardly from one of thelongitudinal'edges of link 42. The width of this notch 52issubstantially the same as the diameter of pin 35, to the end that link42 may be looped about the pin 30 in the manner illustrated in Figs. 2and 4. A latching member 54 is disposed in partial embracingrelationship to the link 42 adjacent that end thereof having notch 52formed therein, said latching member 54 being U-shapcd in cross section,as illustrated in Fig. of the drawing.

Thus, when latch 54 slides upon the link 42, the bight thereoffrictionally engages the longitudinal edge of link 42 having notch 52formed therein. The legs of the latch 54 overlap and slideupon theopposed side walls of link 42.

The two side walls of latch 54 are provided with aligned, elongated,longitudinally-extending slots 55 intermediate the ends thereof forreceiving a transverse pin 58 mounted in the link 42. One end of the pin58 extends outwardly beyond the outermost face of the latch 54 forreceiving one end of a spring 50. The opposite end of spring 60 issecured to one of a pair of outturned flanges 62 on the member 54. Theseflanges 62 are disposed on that end of the member 54 remote from thenotch 52 and are substantially perpendicular to the sides of member 54.

That end of the member 54 opposite to the outturned flanges 62 has theside wallsthereof provided with aligned, inwardly-extending, elongatedrecesses or notches 64. The longitudinal axes of the notches 64 aredisposed on a line substantially midway between the top and bottom ofthe respective walls of member 54 and in alignment with the longitudinalaxes of such walls.

Thus, as is apparent in Figs. 2 and 4 of the drawing, the longitudinalaxes of the two notches 54 are substantially perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of the notch 52 formed in link 42. When the latchmember 54 is in the operative position of Fig. 2 of the drawing, the pin30 is not only disposed within the notch 52 of link 42 but is embracedby the two notches 64 of the side walls of U-shaped member 54.

A portion of the bight of latch 54 overlies and closes entirely themouth of notch 52. A portion of the side walls of member 54 between thebight thereof and notches B4 overlaps the link 42 on both sides thereofand on both sides of the notch The spring 60 yieldably holds the latchmember 54 biased in the operating position shown in Fig. 2 of thedrawing and, when latch 54 is in said position, that end of the slots 55proximal to the flanges 62 bears against the pin 58 and limits theextent of outward movement of latch 54 on link 42.

Releasing of the coupling is simple and accomplished by merely graspingthe flanges 62 and exerting an inward pull to the member 54 with respectto link 42. Such movement of the member 54 against the action of spring60 will position the member 54, as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing,where link 42 is free to drop from its position embracing the pin 30.

Doors of the character illustrated in Fig. l are usually provided withcounterbalancing means and at no time will the pressure upon thecoupling 40 be so great that the same cannot be easily swung from theoperative position when either or both of the two latching means 54 ismoved inwardly on the respective links 42 and '44. The coupling 40 isdevoid of all complicated Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A rod-receiving coupling comprising an elongated, flat link having aU-shaped recess formed in one longitudinal edge thereof; an elongated,U-shaped body mounted on the link and having a bight slidably engaginsaid one longitudinal edge of the link and a pair of spaced, parallelside Walls, slidably engaging corresponding sides of the link andintegral with said bight, said side walls each having an elongated,longitudinally extending slot formed therein and a U-shaped notch in oneend thereof proximal to the recess, said notches each having a pair ofstraight edges disposed in converging relationship as the innermost endsthereof are approached; an outturned, finger-receiving flange on eachside wal of the body adjacent the opposite end thereof; a transverseguide pin affixed to the link and extending through said slots of theside walls for holding said bight in engagement with said edge of thelink; and a spring having one end thereof attached to said pin and theopposite end thereof attached to one of said flanges for pulling theflanges toward the pin and thereby yieldably holding the body at one endof its path of travel on the link with the notches registering with saidrecess, with the mouth of the recess closed by a portion of said sidewalls and said bight and with the mouths of the notches closed by aportion of the link, whereby to receive said rod in engagement with thenotches and the recess at the bights thereof, said last mentioned bightsbeing arcuate.

BOLEY A. ANDREWS.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following referencesare of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Palmer July 28, 1863 RobinsonMar. 14, 1871 Koch Sept. 17, 1878 Mauthner July 22, 1884 10 Grant Oct.25, 1898 Rice Feb. 20, 1906 Teeter Nov. 24, 1914 Shimizu Apr. 6, 1920Number Number 6 i Name Date Nittel Nov. 8, 1921 Reidhaar Dec. 3, 1929Sanon Aug. 30, 1932 Buccicone Aug. 24, 1937 Gauss May 9, 1939 Shaw Apr.18, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Feb. 18, 1880 GreatBritain Oct. 27, 1905 France Oct. 4, 1922

